


Your Name in a Heart

by TranscendentalSpaceGem



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Anxiety, Established Relationship, F/M, Just 3000+ words of Connie and Steven being cute and in love, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23846062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TranscendentalSpaceGem/pseuds/TranscendentalSpaceGem
Summary: Steven has gained a lot from his travels but Connie's favorite by far are his tattoos. It's so brave and confident. How can you know that you'll want something for the rest of your life?
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 16
Kudos: 73





	Your Name in a Heart

**Author's Note:**

> I like this headcanon so I wrote a fic about it. I'm more of an angst guy so this is an honest attempt to write... not that.
> 
> Enjoy

Connie wasn't embarrassed to say how infatuated she was with the fact that Steven was always able to surprise her. He was exciting in a way unlike most other guys, unlike most other people. Even after all the years they had known each other Steven would do or say something that would knock Connie off-balance. Steven never did exactly what people would expect of him which she thought might be intentional on his part. In his months of travel Connie heard some crazy stories that somehow both shocked her yet made complete sense. He’d sent her pictures of him in shady dive bars and historic art museums alike. One of the things that really blew her away though was the night they were sitting together on the bed in his motel room and he had rolled up his sleeve to reveal an image drawn on the inside of his right bicep. It was a long vine of flowers and strawberries that she soon realized curved into letters. It was big and colorful and after a moment she realized that it also spelled out her name!

"Oh my gosh! Steven!" she exclaimed, hands over her mouth. There was no way he’d actually...

"Do you like it?" He had that proud smile with a hint of embarrassment he always had whenever he was trying to be overtly romantic with her. He often got cautious those days after the botched proposal that whatever he did was too much.

She reached her hand out towards him too mesmerized and honestly impressed to have really heard his question. "Can I touch it? Is it real?"

"Of course it's real!" Steven laughed, then blushed as he shifted closer to her as an invitation, "And yeah go ahead..."

Connie ran her palm over the beautiful and intricate design unintentionally feeling up his arm and the muscle under the layer of fat. That was a new enough gesture to still cause a primal but often confusing urge in her body. “Does that hurt?”

“No,” he laughed, “It’s completely healed.”

Of course it was. He didn’t have to worry about that. Connie switched to running a single finger along her own name forever inked onto Steven's skin, tracing over each letter slowly. An act that she noticed seemed to cause him to tense as presumably the same urge overtook his body too. "It still hurt when you got it though, right?"

"Well yeah but,” His eyes bounced from her face to her finger and he swallowed, “It's, uh, nice… right?"

"Oh." He was still seeking validation for another of his over the top displays of affection for her. Luckily one of Connie's favorite things about Steven was his intense passion. There were times he went too far. She didn’t hate romance, she just liked simple romantic things. A quiet picnic as opposed to a fancy dinner. She wished he had asked her before getting it but she couldn't help feeling flattered anyway. Plus it really was lovely. "Yes Steven, it's very pretty."

Steven blushed, "You're pretty."

"Thank you," Connie giggled as he leaned over to kiss her, cutting her off. She was still getting used to the new kissing part of her relationship with Steven. She felt extra shy about making out with him that night because as much as she liked the intimacy of the act, him getting a tattoo of her name was still overwhelming. He essentially marked himself as "hers" which was terrifying and thrilling in equal parts. She was also a bit embarrassed by the hopeless romantic that Steven always managed to turn her into but she loved how free and willing to change he was. She loved how unafraid he had been to permanently alter his body in a show of love for her. Steven’s intrepid spirit was something she adored whether the adventure was magical or not.

He hadn't stopped there either. On his trip across the country Steven collected many things, both physical and metaphorical. One of which was tattoos. The first was obviously of her name. The next was a lion on his lower right leg. He had a music themed sleeve on his left arm that took more than one session to complete. Records, cassettes, guitars, drums, piano keys, music notes (from what in her mind was "their song") a few logos of his favorite bands pouring out from a speaker up at his shoulder. Stars on a splash style background that was in shades of pink hid the large scar on his back left over from his corruption. A big yellow star for himself between his shoulder blades descending into smaller ones near his middle back for his immediate family. White for Pearl, purple for Amethyst, maroon with a tiny blue star and a tiny red star attatched for Garnet, Sapphire and Ruby and then black for Greg. Below those a few more slightly smaller stars finished the path to his tailbone. Green for Peridot, lighter blue for Lapis, grey with tiny stripes of color across it for Bismuth and finally, tiniest of them all, orange for Jasper of all gems. Lastly he had a single pink rose on his left ankle. Maybe it was for his mother, she had decided not to ask about it.

Connie liked Steven's tattoos. She liked that while most guys tried to be edgy and dark, Steven got tattoos that were meant to be bright and beautiful. All of them were vibrant in color and impressive in artistry. She was with him in another hotel room in a different city. She sat behind him, wearing one of his shirts and little else while touching the stars on his back as he sat on the edge of the bed playing guitar, "Have I ever told you that I really like your tattoos?"

"No," he answered. She could somehow hear the blush in his voice. "Actually, yeah, but you don't say it as much as you just stare at them or touch them."

"Well I do. They're, you know," she lay her hand flat on his bare back then ran it down slowly, bracing herself, "Sexy."

It was still a word she was getting used to applying to Steven. He was nineteen though so while cute was an option, it felt patronizing in certain circumstances. Admiring his body was clearly one of those scenarios. Especially since at that point they had recently started regularly having se- She just felt like it was time she started using more adult language to describe her attraction to and desire for him! He turned to look back at her but his face was nervous. Obviously, he wasn't entirely comfortable yet with having the descriptor applied to him either.

"Thanks, Connie." was all he said when other young men would probably have had something smoother to say to that type of confession. Another guy might have taken it as an opportunity to try talking her into bed with him. Or rather talk her back into bed with him in that particular case. Steven wasn't like most other guys.

"It has to take a lot of guts. To just sit there and let someone poke you with needles for hours." She started poking his bare stomach playfully making little raspberry noises as she did, hoping to dispel the tension she created.

"Hey!" He laughed as he leaned away from her and her pointy fingers but having a long enough reach to poke her back a few times blowing his own raspberries at her. Until he eventually abandoned his guitar as it turned into a tickle fight, grabbing hands behaving much more innocently than they had earlier. They shifted from blowing raspberries at each other to against each other. Finally he allowed himself to be wrestled down onto the bed because there was no way she could actually overpower his inhuman strength. Steven planted a kiss sloppily under her eyes before laying flat. She lay next to him. However she was still quite caught up in admiring his body as they did, which he noticed. So he leaned over her to explain, "It hurts but look how pretty they are when they're done! It's art on your body. How cool is that?"

He was holding up his left arm which was covered with the sleeve dedicated to his love for music while his eyes shined. She shifted to cuddle into his side. "It definitely is cool. I guess I just really admire the way you go for things. I may not be as timid as I was when we first met but it's still hard for me sometimes to do things for no other reason than I want to."

She sighed, hugging him and rubbing along his arm, "I could never do this."

"Why not?"

"Come on, Steven! My parents would never let me get a tattoo!" She sat up when she said it. Honestly her mom and dad only barely tolerated the fact that the guy she was involved with had them.

"You're eighteen, I don't think they can stop you." He sat up as well. He thought for a moment than took hold of her hand, "Do you want me to take you?"

Connie could feel the blush taking over her face, "Be serious!"

"I am serious! We could go right now if you want." He lifted his leg to show off his new rose, "The place I got this done is two blocks down the road. Just get something tiny. Your parents probably wouldn't even notice it."

She once again ran her finger over his skin tracing the tattoo as he showed it to her, "You really mean it?"

"Of course."

"Okay, let's do this!" Connie felt herself smiling widely at him. Steven pulled her to her feet and almost didn't remember that they had to get dressed before they left. He made her feel so brave. He made her feel like she could accomplish absolutely anything! Nothing was impossible with him around. She could take on the whole entire galaxy so long as she was facing it down with Steven Universe!

… Is exactly how she felt until she was actually standing inside the tattoo parlor. Steven was having a conversation with the guy leaning on the front counter as she looked at the examples being displayed on the walls. She didn't really hear what they were saying despite being right next to them as they spoke. For the twenty minutes this had been a fantasy she was excited. The reality setting in was a lot more nerve wrecking. She still wanted to do it. It was just-

“Hello? Earth to Connie?’ She heard Steven as he put a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

"Oh yeah, definitely!"

"You sure?"

"I'm okay, Steven." She wanted to be okay anyway. Sometimes Connie couldn’t believe herself. She had faced down almost certain death and yet still things like her latest test scores would cost her a whole night's worth of sleep with worry. There is no way a tattoo could be as bad as half the things she had went through already. So why on earth did it scare her this much? She wanted to do this! She loved Steven's tattoos and she wanted one of her own. She was getting a tattoo. She wasn’t leaving this place without one!

"Alright." He slid his hand down her arm to her hand, gripping it tightly in his own excitement. "You got any ideas yet?”

"Oh. No not quite yet." She was back to looking at the images on the walls. There were many options to pick from and nothing was jumping out at her as Connie's first tattoo. She had a hard time picturing any of them on her body. Oh gosh, she wasn’t even sure where on her body she was going to get it done! Probably not anywhere too obvious. She needed something she could easily hide. Something she could cover for job interviews. That still left her with a lot of options which meant she still had too many. What was she going for with this tattoo? Did she want to look like a badass? Did she want to look sexy? Was she looking for something more rebellious? Did she want to get something more meaningful? Did she want a beautiful piece of art like Steven’s tattoos? She kept taking steps towards the different images like feeling it out would answer her question. She felt the tell-tale signs of an anxiety attack. She had suffered them since childhood so she could tell when they were going to hit. Too bad she had never really learned how to stop them.

"Hey, Strawberry?"

She stopped to look at him. Steven was a step behind but he didn't move to follow her in any direction. He had used his pet name for her in a way that conveyed he was trying to tread lightly to avoid upsetting her. However that had also brought her back to Earth. "Yeah?"

"You know I brought you here for you, not for me, right?"

She felt her face get hot, "I know."

Steven grabbed her other hand and stared directly into her eyes. "You do?"

"Yes!" She was a bit too forceful saying that.

"And you're sure about this?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright. Just please promise me we aren't here because you think I want you to get a tattoo."

"I don't-" She looked away and let out a sigh, "I don't think you want me to get a tattoo. I mean not if I don’t want to get one. I do want one though. Don't tell my parents but I’ve always thought that they were cool. Seeing them on you just makes them seem so much more attainable and I want one even more now."

"Okay, so then what's going on?" He swung their hands gently, rocking her just slightly. She bit her lip as their bodies moved together. His eyes never left hers and Steven had the most lovely, expressive eyes. She could fall asleep right there on her feet being soothingly rocked by him and lost in his so-dark-they-were-almost-pitch-black-but-still-somehow-bright eyes. "Come on. Tell me."

"I guess it's just- It's such a big decision!” she finally blurted out. “Whatever I pick in this moment is going to be on my body for the rest of my life! What if I like it today but hate it tomorrow? What if I think it looks great but everyone laughs at me? What if it hurts too much and halfway through I chicken out and only have part of a tattoo? I just want to make sure whatever I pick I'm making the best choice! But how do I even know what the best choice is?!"

She sighed, let go of him and leaned against the wall closest to them. She was making a scene at that point but the people in the parlor barely seemed to pay attention to it, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"You know, not care about this stuff and just go for it."

He looked at her, obviously confused, "What do you mean? I got all my tattoos because I care about stuff."

She groaned in frustration, knocking her head on the wall behind her. Of course he cared about it as much as she did but was still able to do it. His big bleeding heart cared about everything. Every one of his tattoos had meaning whether it was love for someone else or an expression of himself. Of course he had put careful thought into each one. She was being weird. She couldn’t commit strongly enough to anything to mark her body with it. She was starting to think they should forget the whole thing and just leave.

Then Steven leaned against the wall next to her leaving some space between them while still being close enough to speak softly to her, "When I got my first tattoo it was scary. I'd never done anything like it before. I felt ridiculous. I have broken every part of my body more than once. I have swelled up to the size of a city building. I’ve taken hits that would normally kill someone and stood back up like it was nothing at all. Yet somehow I was terrified to do this. But this whole trip of mine has always been about experiences. This was an experience. A human experience. So I wanted to risk it, you know?"

Connie felt him shifting so she looked his way. He was pushing up his shirt sleeve, "But you're right. It's hard to know if you're going to like something years from right now so when I got my first tattoo I picked something I knew I'd always love."

He was showing off his bicep as she stared at her name and marveled at how this young man could be so perfect! It had been reassuring to hear her normally self-assured guy had panicked the same way she was doing. It was romantic to be reminded he would always love her so something he would never fear was a sign of commitment. It caused a very familiar fluttering in her chest. One only Steven had ever caused, one only Steven could cause. She reached out to trace along the letters with her fingers for what felt like the thousandth time. She wondered for the first time if Steven would enjoy touching her tattoo too.

“You don't have to get a tattoo,” he continued after a moment, "But if you do, I think you'll look... sexy."

She giggled, "Really?"

"Really." Then he quickly added, embarrassed by the admission, “I’ll hold your hand the whole time too and you know you can squeeze it as hard as you want to.”

"Okay," she said, standing up "Let’s do this!"

“Yeah!” He stood straight too and pumped a fist in the air. “Way to go, Connie!”

She pulled him over towards the guy he had spoken to earlier. There wasn’t anyone else waiting. Steven was trailing right behind her and he grabbed at her hand. She let him take it as they made their way over to the chair. He walked a little faster to get next to her. “You should talk to the tattoo artist if you aren’t sure what to get. They usually have great suggestions. That’s how most of my sleeve was done.”

She gave the man a thumbs up as she sat in the chair and he got his supplies ready. Still holding to Steven's hand, she looked his way with a nervous but determined smile, “Don’t worry, Biscuit. I know exactly what I’m getting.”

The process was a painful one, worse than Steven had led her to believe it would be even if not by much. He healed it right away before she left. She spent hours admiring it when she first got back to school. Though she wasn't sure what to tell her parents about the way she hid her arm over Thanksgiving break. It was hidden most of the time but she definitely got a few stares when it was visible. Probably due to its size and the image she picked. It had been worth it though when three months later she found herself relaxing on the beach with a love struck Steven as he softly ran his finger over the image, tracing along each of the letters in his name.

**Author's Note:**

> Obvious, predictable ending is obvious and predictable. I know neither of them gets the other's name tattooed in a heart but it was a cuter title. Also this has no bearing on anything but when Steven and Connie fuse their tattoos combine into one tattoo that says "Stevonnie."
> 
> Feedback always welcome.


End file.
